Cecilia Zuniga

The Myth of Pearls

In researching the oyster for the animals class, I became particularly fascinated by a Chinese myth about the origin of pearls. I decided to recreate this myth by using both the shark and oyster as main characters.

The heart of the story is that oyster's collect tears from a shark, mermaid or dragon to form pearls.

Almost around the same time I stumbled upon an erotic surrealist postcard about oysters and decided to use this aesthetic for the content.

This peculiar myth seduced me in a way that matched my fascination for the mysterious oyster. I took qualities about the oyster that were curious to me and attempted at putting those qualities into a portal that transports you to this mythical world. Physical qualities I included are those of the delicate nature of its flesh and the flaky, sometimes iridescent shell that surrounds it.

This project took the form of a projected story with visuals and sound, framed by a laser cut reflective piece suspended in space. The mechanics behind the imagery and movements are based on some of what I learned in Nature of Code.